Assignment: Project Guidelines

Overview

The final project for this course is the design and proposal of a database management system (DBMS) solution. You will select a case study from those provided, analyze the organizational issues and needs, and work your way through the conceptual, logical, and physical designs of a DBMS solution. This will require substantial research of best practices in design, available products, and the legal and ethical standards to which you must adhere during design. The skills required in this assessment will be valuable in the role of an IT manager or DBMS professional, as these individuals are often tasked with developing solutions to various organization data problems while also adhering to legal, ethical, and financial considerations. The ability to craft and present professional and logical proposals will also be expected of IT professionals, especially those at the management level.

You will use Visio or a comparable tool to illustrate design models and will also have access to Microsoft SQL for implementation of the DBMS design or solution. While the length of the proposal will depend on many factors (including the type of organization, the scope of the identified challenge, and operational requirement differences), it should be long enough to address all aspects of the prompt accurately and comprehensively without unnecessary detail.

The project is divided into four milestones, which will be submitted at various points throughout the course to scaffold learning and ensure quality final submissions. These milestones will be submitted in Modules Two, Four, Five, and Seven. The final submission will occur in Module Nine.

In this assignment, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following course outcomes:

• Construct and refine conceptual and logical models that include the necessary entities, relationships, attributes, and business rules for solving database management issues

• Evaluate and recommend database products that address requirements for given business scenarios

• Articulate the differences in data and database security needs for various organizational computing environments to align to organizational needs

• Develop enterprise database management system models that accurately reflect fundamental organizational operating rules

• Create physical designs that account for organizational application, hardware, network, operating system, and data communications requirements

• Determine best practices for ensuring ethical and legal compliance for data usage and storage based on established industry-wide information technology standards and regulations

Prompt

Based on the real-world case you selected, design and propose a DBMS solution that meets the organizational requirements while adhering to design best practices, legal regulations, and ethical standards.

Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:

I. Organization

A. Problem: Analyze the organization to determine the problem/challenge, business requirements, and limitations of current system(s).

B. Departments and Operations: Explain how the various departments and operations within the organization are impacted by the issue or challenge

II. Analysis and Design

A. Conceptual Model: Based on the business problem or challenge, devise a conceptual model that would best address the problem. Your model should include all necessary entities, relationships, attributes, and business rules.

B. Logical Model: Based on the conceptual model, illustrate a logical model for your DBMS that accurately represents all necessary aspects of the DBMS to address the solution.

C. Physical Design: Create a physical database design that builds on the nonphysical (conceptual and logical) models you crafted.

III. DBMS

A. Research: Research the various DBMS products available for your scenario and compare the top contenders to highlight similarities and differences.

B. Analysis: Analyze these database products for their appropriate uses, strengths, and weaknesses in comparison with the needs of your organization.

C. Recommendation: Recommend and defend the best DBMS product(s) for fully addressing the broad, high-level technological and operational needs of the organization.

D. Hardware, Software: Recommend and justify needed software and hardware to fully meet operational applications in various departments. These will supplement the DBMS product you recommend to fully meet specific needs or requirements left open by the DBMS product.

IV. Data Model: For the three sections of this element, you will focus on a particular group or department within the organization (such as Sales or Customer Service).

A. Enterprise Data Model: Develop and illustrate a comprehensive enterprise data model for the selected group.
B. Operating Rules: Articulate the operating rules within the group to allow for an applicable model.
C. Rule Reflection: Assess the extent to which your data model reflects the operating rules of the organization.

V. Law, Ethics, and Security

A. Standards: Articulate the relevant legal and ethical standards that need to be considered in your solution design and in future implementation.

B. Legal Compliance: Determine the best practices in design, data use, and storage to ensure legal compliance. The regulations in place and the best practices for aligning operations will likely change depending on the type of industry in which your company resides. Support your conclusions with research support.

C. Ethical Practices: Determine best practices in design, data use, and storage to ensure the ethical operation of your company. These best practices will likely change depending on the industry in which your company resides. Support your conclusions with research support.

D. Security Needs of Solution: In consideration of the type of organization you selected, the data used, and your consideration of legal and ethical standards, discuss the security needs of your DBMS solution. Considering the group/department for which you constructed your enterprise data model, discuss the differences in security needs at this level in comparison with those of the company as a whole.

E. Database Security Plan: Given the comparisons and discussions above, recommend a comprehensive but high-level (pertaining to the solution as a whole rather than the particular department) security management plan for your design that will align to organizational needs.

Milestones

Milestone One: Analysis of Organization

In Module Two, you will submit an analysis of the organization that will use the database developed for the final project. Select one of the scenarios provided for the final project. Using the selected scenario, analyze the organization to determine the problem/challenge, business requirements, and limitations of the current system(s). Explain how the problem or challenge impacts the various departments and operations within the organization.

Milestone Two: Database Analysis and Design

In Module Four, you will submit the preliminary design of the database for the final project. Devise a conceptual model that will best address the scenario you selected for the final project. Your model should include all necessary entities, relationships, attributes, and business rules. Based on the conceptual model, illustrate a logical model for your DBMS that accurately represents all necessary aspects of the DBMS to address the solution. Create a physical database design that builds on the nonphysical (conceptual and logical) models you crafted. This design includes the conceptual and logical models of the database, as well as the physical design of the database.

Milestone Three: DBMS Research and Recommendation

In Module Five, you will submit research and analysis of available database management systems to host the database, as well as a recommendation for the specific database management systems for the database. Research the various database management system (DBMS) products available for your scenario and compare the top contenders to highlight similarities and differences. Analyze these database products for their appropriate uses, strengths, and weaknesses in comparison with the needs of your organization. Recommend and defend the best DBMS product(s) for fully addressing the broad, high-level technological and operational needs of the organization. Recommend and justify needed software and hardware to fully meet operational applications in various departments.

These will supplement the DBMS product you recommend to fully meet specific needs or requirements left open by the DBMS product.

Milestone Four: Database Data Model

In Module Seven, you will submit a detailed data model of the database with analysis and justification based on a specific group or department within the organization. Select one particular group or department (such as Sales or Customer Service) within the organization in your chosen scenario from Hands-On Database. Then develop and illustrate a comprehensive enterprise data model for the selected group. Articulate the operating rules within the group to allow for an application model. Assess the extent to which your data model reflects the operating rules of the organization.